Zalman is back again with their latest heatpipe cooler, the ZM80D-HP! They are
probably the first manufacturer to implement heatpipes on graphic card coolers.
They started with the ZM50-HP, which was not too bad, but it would not handle
the new generation of graphics cards. Then the bigger brother ZM80-HP appeared with
a larger heat dissipating area. However, the product isn't perfect - it was plagued
with some compatibility issues on certain motherboards.

Ken Ng has reviewed the older ZM80A-HP, the revised version of the ZM80-HP.
Most of the compatibility issues have been solved in this version but there is still room for improvement.
So we will take a look at the latest dual heatpipe model - the ZM80D-HP!

We will start by comparing the specifications from the first heatpipe, the ZM50-HP to the current ZM80D-HP.

Specifications

ZM50-HP

ZM80-HP

ZM80A-HP

ZM80C-HP

ZM80D-HP

Weight

130g

385g

400g

325g

350g

Heatpipe Material

Gold Plated
Copper Tube

Gold Plated
Copper Tube

Gold Plated
Copper Tube

Gold Plated
Copper Tube

Gold Plated
Copper Tube

Heat Dissipating
Material

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Aluminum

Surface Area
For Heat Dissipation

400cm2

1000cm2

1300cm2

1200cm2

1350cm2

The surface area for the ZM80C and the ZM80D are not that much different from the older
models, with just minor revision improvements. Anything above 500g is not recommended
to be installed onto any graphics card, because anything heavier will put too much
stress on the card and this can bend or even break it! So it's nice to see
that Zalman managed to reduce the weight, while increasing the surface area
on the latest ZM80D-HP compared to the ZM80A-HP.